Facts About the English Language

English is currently one of the most widely spoken and written languages worldwide, with some 380 million native speakers. English is spoken by one out of every six people in the world. It is the primary language of the United States, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and, partly, Canada.

English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to Britain in the 5th Century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany. The original Old English language was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the 8th and 9th centuries.
-English Language, all about the English language

Speak English Please!

Cultural Communication Conflict - Gestures

Learn to Pronounce the "l" in American English

Congratulations Student Adelaide!

English student, Adelaide Pereira, heads up a team of feisty women in Aveiro, Portugal, who were recently recognized for their hard work and great success.  Tempo-Team is a European company for temporary employment outsourcing.

 Adelaide's efforts to improve her English are also to be praised.
Congratulations Adelaide!

Royal Wedding News

Royal Wedding Report

"Royal wedding my pants" is a play on words for "wetting my pants."  A play on words is when we use words that sound similar to say one thing and mean another, usually in a humorous context.

Bombshell - a big piece of shocking news

Elope- run away and get married without a ceremony or guests

Animal Sounds

Every language has it's own way of expressing various animal sounds.  In English we say "bow wow" for the sound a dog makes, and in Korean they say "wow wow."  Check out the following link to see all the Animal Sounds in Different Languages.

Silva English Online- The Shwa

Words that Sound the Same

Everybody Loves Raymond "How They Met" - Raymond and Debra

This is a video about how Raymond and Debra first met.

Vocabulary: futon, frame, smother, joke, guys, clipboard, shrimp

1.       Why does Giani (the man delivering futons with Raymond) ask Raymond what he’s doing after they set the futon mattress on the floor?

2.       What does Raymond say he’s going to one day be?  Why does he tell Debra this?

3.       After Raymond drops the mattress on Debra on the sofa, he makes the comment that he doesn’t know what he’s doing because he is going to one day be a what?

4.       What does “run for cover” mean?

5.       What does Raymond do to try and find out if Debra has a boyfriend?

6.       Giani says “stranger things have happened.”  In this context, he is referring to stranger things happening than what?

7.       What finally motivates Raymond to ask Debra out?

8.       While Raymond goes to get the clipboard, what does Giani reveal to Debra?

9.       The China Star is what?

10.   What is it that the old woman at the restaurant is screaming? 

11.   Was it easy for Raymond to ask Debra out?

12.   Raymond mentions that he doesn’t like to go to the Chinese restaurant two days in a row?  What does this mean?  But if he does go two days in a row, what is it he does?

13.   When Raymond knocks at Debra’s door, she says, “coming” but what is it Raymond thought she said?

Facing the Aftershock

Read my article by clicking on the text below:
The people of Japan in the face of disaster

Silva English Online-Noun or Verb?

Check out my article: Carnival in Portugal

Idiom Work

Dollar's Reign=  The dollar being number one in the world
Nears and End= It's close to being over.  Soon it will no longer be the number one currency in the world.
Check out the article in the link below:
Foreign Exchange Report

Student Writing

History of me

何家榮

Kawing, Hong Kong

I have been studying piano for more than twenty years. I heard about the piano when I was four.  A classmate of mine in kindergarten who started learning piano at the age of four influenced me in learning piano.  Her father gave her a piano as a gift at her birthday party which made me wish to have a piano as well. 

At the age of eight, I finally started learning piano and owned my first piano. At the beginning, I studied and practiced really hard, but after a couple of years, I felt tired of playing it. In the following few years, my parents continued to force me to practice piano. Finally, I reached the Advanced Diploma level of piano in 1996.

In 1997, I attended a music foundation course in one of the universities in Hong Kong. The two year course provided me with a lot of musical knowledge, including western music history, music analysis, coral singing and performance techniques.  All of these reactivated my interest in music and also exposed me to the musical world on a higher level.

I graduated from a university in the UK in 2003, majoring in music. After that, I came back to Hong Kong and started my career. I am currently a performer, an educator, and a music producer. I enjoy my work and would be very happy to share my experiences in music with everyone.